Bagging the Evil Twin
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day five hundred and ninety-one: Now that the alternate Jesse has found an ally in Quinn, it's time to see about the other Rachel.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 28th cycle. Now cycle 29!_

**TOP 16, TAKE 2: **_Okay so a couple cycles back, I did my second 'top of Glee at the moment' cycle. Now since I was still in university and such at the time, those were planned a while back, before the second half of the season every started. This made it that by the time that cycle rolled around I realized that some things had changed... Things were added, removed, bumped up... Point is it didn't really reflect where I was anymore. So I decided 'what the heck, I'll do another one ASAP!' And so here we are :) This is my revised Top 16 (of course I HAD to plan before the finale, so there are still a couple things missing like Samcedes, Unholy Trinity, etc, but let's assume they're there ;) They'll get some love in coming cycles ;)) So off we go!  
><strong>Coming in at number fourteen...<strong>_

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><p><strong>"Bagging the Evil Twin"<br>AU!Jesse, Quinn, AU!Rachel  
>Berry-St #15 (sequel to 'There are worse things')<strong>

It had taken a while, but now he knew this world's Quinn believed his story. Even if she wasn't the one he had come to know and, even if he hadn't said it yet, love, she remained who she had always been at least in some parts, and he was just happy that he could count on that here as well. It would have been too complicated, going at it alone, whereas now he had an ally… and he would need her.

From everything she had told him, he had to guess that it was his world's Rachel Berry who was currently terrorizing the halls of McKinley High, which meant that she had travelled as well. Why this whole transformation would have focused on the two of them, he had no idea, but it didn't change the fact that, so far, it looked as though this was happening to the both of them, so the reasonable thing would be to touch bases with her. From what Quinn had said, he understood that he and Rachel had known each other in this world, dated in this world, that he had betrayed her… He'd also found out that Shelby Corcoran from Vocal Adrenaline was Rachel's mother, and that this world's Quinn had just had a baby… He tried not to focus on that too much. The point was that this world's Jesse may have been very familiar with a version of Rachel Berry, but he wasn't. So he was at a disadvantage, one he would hope to rectify as soon as possible. For that, he would need Quinn.

He could tell she still felt odd about calling him. Still he couldn't wait to hear from her. It wasn't anything romantic; he knew she wasn't his Quinn, but she was all he had to rely on in this strange world. Every day that he had to endure the growing agony that were Carmel and Vocal Adrenaline, the harder it got. By the end of day three, they had 'suspended' him from performance and relegated him to be… well, their lackey, doomed to be shamed for whatever had gotten into him and left him so… 'pointless.' He had to admit, all in all, he didn't mind it so much… He wouldn't show them that, of course, because then they might make everything even worse for him.

As it was, he would use the time where he was made to sit and watch them to just… think things through, about everything that was happening. He had told Quinn he would hang back for a few days, let her keep an eye on this other Rachel and let him know what she was up to. If it really got too bad, then they'd need to move up their schedule and make their approach. So far Quinn hadn't 'sounded the alarm,' but she did tell him other things.

The one thing she made clear was that this girl was managing to blend in pretty well, in some ways at least. She had definitely done her research, but that could only take her so far. Internet was one thing; it could give her names, some pictures could tell her some of who they were to each other, but it couldn't account for memories.

But she was smart. She'd figured out on day one who it was that she needed to stay away from if she didn't want to be found out… Will, Finn, Puck, Kurt, and Quinn herself. She claimed something about needing keep her mind clear and focused, and somehow this worked… Possibly in some aspects she and their Rachel weren't that different. But Quinn, she knew the truth, and she couldn't be fooled. This girl was a pale imitation of their Rachel, no matter how hard she tried. How no one had actually picked up on it was beyond her, but then at the same time she guessed it was a good thing. Jesse thought it was better off keeping the information to a small circle for the moment, and she had to agree. She knew a thing or two about how fast words could travel in this place.

Quinn and Jesse would have what she'd come to refer to as 'the status report' every afternoon after school. It had taken a few days, but he could hear in her voice how she'd allowed herself to trust him more now. She knew he wasn't this other Jesse, even if she wouldn't go into too much detail about the kind of guy he was. From what he'd seen so far though, he could imagine it… and he didn't like it. At least it could put his mind to ease on his ejection from Vocal Adrenaline… He and their Jesse were nothing alike, apparently, so of course they would see him as 'not right.' Either way, as far as he and Quinn went, somehow they had actually gone and… started a friendship. Neither of them would consider the other as anything more than that; he had her counterpart he wanted to get back to, and she had… well, her things. Even if he knew it wasn't his Quinn, it had been a shock to actually think about her… pregnant, having a baby. Maybe that had made him more cautious around her, more caring… allowing for her to start trusting him as a friend in the process. The way she talked, it didn't look like she had many people she was comfortable talking to about some things, so who better to confide in than the guy from another universe who, if all went well, would disappear and take her secrets too?

By the end of the week they had decided it was time to read this Rachel into their situation, reveal that she wasn't alone in having jumped realities. Jesse had wanted to just show up at McKinley, but Quinn had advised against it, reminding him of what the people in this school knew Jesse as. Luring Rachel to Breadstix didn't seem wise either. Finally it had settled on the music store. Jesse wasn't sure she'd manage to do it, but Quinn had just told him to be there, and she would get Rachel to come. He was intrigued, but he trusted her. So he drove into Lima that afternoon, and he went to the music store. The place hadn't changed, no reason that it would have, and seeing that, it just… it felt good.

He did doubt that Quinn would manage to get Rachel there, especially seeing as she'd told him that Rachel wouldn't come near her, for fear of being found out. But then he turned, having waited no more than ten minutes, and in they walked, the two of them. They hadn't seen him yet, and he listened as he caught the tail end of their conversation, which told him Quinn's secret 'bait' had been so very simple: she'd asked for a duet with her, offered her complete control over song selection. One universe or the other, Rachel Berry never threw away an opportunity like that.

While the unsuspecting girl started browsing sheet music, Quinn backed away and joined Jesse to the side. "She doesn't know I'm here, right?" he asked, and Quinn shook her head. "Still hasn't said anything about… you know…"

"Being from another world? No, hasn't come up," Quinn whispered with a bit of sarcasm. "Either she's really good at this, or she's planning something…"

"You think?" Jesse asked, then, "Wait, I think she's looking for you."

"Come on," Quinn started back toward Rachel, indicating he should follow. "Rachel?" she called, and the girl turned. The moment she saw Jesse standing there, it was like she knew… the jig was up.

"Stay away from me," her finger shot out, pointing at them both as she started backing up.

"Wait, it's okay, we're here to help," Jesse held his hands out, and he really hoped people wouldn't look at them and get the wrong idea.

"Did I ask for your help? I don't need you, I can handle myself just fine," Rachel just went on before turning to Quinn. "I knew there was something about you. Are you one of them, too?"

"No, but I know what's happening," she explained.

"Oh, do you? Can you tell me how I got here then?"

"No…" Quinn had to admit.

"Then how is it that you think you can help me?"

"If we work together, then we can find a way back t…" Jesse started, but Rachel cut in.

"I don't do 'together.' Worked my way to the top all on my own, and that's exactly how I'm going to take care of things here, too." They wanted to respond, but she didn't let them. She turned on her heel and stomped out of the store.

"Rachel, wait…" Jesse started to follow, but Quinn stopped him.

"Let her go. We're not going to convince her today," she shook her head, though she wasn't telling him what had led her to this conclusion. It had been bugging her for days, why she had been so private about things up until then. It could have been the whole matter of the secret, and her whole 'I work alone' mentality, but now she was thinking there was more… like there was something keeping her here.

THE END

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><p><strong>AN: This is a one-shot ficlet, which means that signing up for story alert will not bring you any alerts.  
><strong>**In the event of a sequel, the story will be separate from this one. And as chapter stories go, they are  
><strong>******always clearly indicated as such [ex: "Days 204-210" in the summary] Thank you!******

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><p><strong><strong><strong>PS: I'm going to work to find a way to make a list available of the various series, I just need to find a way to make the link available, since this site seems to have an issue with putting links to stuff ;)<strong>****


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